Racing pigeon finds hospital is a good place to recuperate
By Dawn Hewitt
331-4377 | dhewitt@heraldt.com
6/7/2008
A bird checked in to Bloomington’s Meadows Hospital on Sunday, after a very long trip.
The homing pigeon, on its last leg of a 515-mile race, showed up and stuck around the mental health facility’s courtyard for a few days, according to
technician Jennifer Sommer, who works there and first spotted the bird.
It received a warm welcome. “Miss Pigeon” was popular with the staff and the patients, and some therapists included the bird as a topic in lectures.
Unafraid of people and even friendly, it — she — sat in on several outdoor group sessions.
“She just sat on the picnic table, and just sat next to us and wasn’t afraid of us at all,” Sommer said.
Sommer noticed bands on her legs, and could even discern a telephone number. She called the number and connected with the Central Indiana
Racing Pigeon Club. They identified pigeon number 1257 as belonging to Al Coury, who lives in Wanamaker, not far southeast of Indianapolis.
Coury raises racing pigeons, hand-feeding the nestlings to socialize them. He has about 100 pigeons in his loft.
Sommer said Coury called and said, “I hear my pigeon is seeking services at your facility.”
He advised her to feed the pigeon unpopped popcorn, and to provide water.
She was hungry, Sommer said. The bird gobbled the raw popcorn for about 10 minutes straight.
Coury said the pigeon was completing a race. She was one of 12 pigeons he shipped to Montgomery, Ala., for release at 7 a.m. May 31. It took the
bird about a day and a half to get from Montgomery to Bloomington.
“It was a very difficult race with lots of wind,” Coury said.
But several of Coury’s other pigeons were home to roost the night before. In just over 12 hours, several of his birds had completed the 515-mile
journey. His loft won the race, beating out other pigeons from the Indianapolis area, as well as some from Louisville.
“To battle wind from Montgomery, Ala., to here was amazing. I was shocked that they got here so soon,” he said.
He was happy to hear that 1257 — Miss Pigeon — wasn’t eaten by a hawk or owl, didn’t run into a wire, or otherwise didn’t get hopelessly lost.
Instead, she was visiting patients and making friends in the hospital.
Patients at Meadows Hospital are checked on every 15 minutes, and a report is filed. And Miss Pigeon was treated like anyone else who checks in.
She now has a lengthy psychological record from her two-night stay. And when she checked out, she flew straight home to Wanamaker to rejoin her
loft.